Stay with me here. I’m not big into conspiracy theories, but sneaker writers? Oh yeah. And when a quality writer such as Russell T Davies starts acting as irrational as the Fourth Doctor on Gallifrey during the first half of The Invasion of Time? Something stinks.
Tell you what. I’ll throw out every odd, unusual, head scratching moment we’ve seen from Jodie Whittaker’s regeneration until now, both in front of and behind the camera…
We see Jodie’s Doctor change into David Tennant’s, with all new clothes. None of that should have happened. (But at least there is a precedent for that,)
Then the Davros thing… Ridiculous… This was the first head-shaking shock. RTD does a complete 180 on the character of Davros out of nowhere. We could chalk it up to changing times, or Davies getting careful in his old age, but this was a really strange thing to do, especially since Davros wasn’t even due to be in the next series.
The Meep, a fictional character given life…. When it was first reported, I and others wondered if the Master of the Land of Fiction was involved, a comic character brought to life, and yet, he’s working for some big boss?
The Fourteenth Doctor talking in Wild Blue Yonder about how he’d never been to the edge of the universe before, when we all know he has. He’s been beyond our universe, so I found this comment either sloppy or suspicious.
The salt trick messes with reality? Really?
The Toymaker, which was telegraphed and obvious from day one — too obvious — so maybe the Toymaker is part of the fantasy?
He who waits? That’s enough ammo right there to say someone is behind all this.
The Toymaker gets defeated by a game of catch?
We’ve been seeing a lot of repeat stuff like the hand picking up the tooth (i.e. the trapped Master), and more in Space Babies…
Bi-generation is usually a myth, and kind of ridiculous
The Fourteenth Doctor “retiring”. If ever there were evidence of something being amiss, draw a big line under this one.
Muppet goblin king — granted, this was sloppy and cheap, and that might be a pass. Or…
The Doctor and Ruby breaking into song? It was a fun little song, but unusual for Who.
Mrs Flood winking at camera. Of course this bizarre bit got everyone thinking she’s the Rani… but if you think about it, what exactly is happening here? Acknowledging an audience?
Newton’s housekeeper, played by the same actress who goes on to play a few other parts in episodes, much like actors appearing in tons of stuff in real life. People were wondering who she is — maybe nobody but a bit role “in a TV show”.
RTD declaring that Ncuti has this new sonic configuration because “the old one looked like a gun”? Now come on. This sudden and inexplicable declaration by RTD not only makes no sense, but absolutely nobody can understand this. It’s as if he started accelerating the madness.
Now these two bizarre, ridiculous adventures… Space Babies was infantile and almost a parody of Who. Plus, Russell covers the same ground as in The End of the World. Jiggery pokery on her phone, as they’re on a space station and she calls mum.
Fart and poop jokes — just Davies missing the mark again with infantile humour, or is there something else going on?
And then, beyond the pale….
Ncuti winking at camera?
The dance number? At this point, it’s a full on spoof of Who.
At the end of The Giggle, amongst such characters from their past as Sarah Jane and Mavic Chen, Ncuti mentions the Gods of Ragnarok. Those stone bozos who live to be entertained by lesser beings. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy was not really more than a footnote in the classic era, but here, they got a mention.
And if mighty gods are in play here, beings that live to be entertained by a show, and characters are winking at the camera, actors are being reused…
And hold on…. Mel. Even the Doctor was surprised to see Mel. Hey everybody, Mel’s back?
Oh, look, there’s a new book coming out where Mel solves mysteries…
I’m merely presenting the laundry list of bizarre developments both in front of and behind the camera. You be the judge.
Credit Bar Nash-Williams for first bringing some of this to my attention, but I suddenly started to see others connecting the same dots. There are a lot of dots.
Perhaps Russell has lost his mojo, his skills, and is actually turning into Mary Whitehouse. That would be a tragedy, but it’s a possibility.
Or… he’s up to something and there will be a reveal. The only catch is, considering what we’ve seen so far, he’d better pull back the curtain sooner than later before people jump ship.
